Document Type
Article
Publication Date
6-1-2019
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Cardiogenic syncope can present as a seizure. The distinction between seizure disorder and cardiogenic syncope can only be made if one considers the diagnosis. Our main objective was to identify whether patients presenting with a chief complaint (reason for visit) as seizure or syncope received an electrocardiogram in the emergency department across all age groups.
METHODS: We conducted a secondary analysis of data collected in the 2010 to 2014 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey comparing patients presenting with a chief complaint of syncope versus seizure to determine likelihood of getting an evaluation for possible life threatening cardiovascular disease. The primary endpoint was receiving an electrocardiogram in the emergency department; secondary endpoint was receiving cardiac biomarkers.
RESULTS: There was a total of 144,094 patient encounters. Of these visits, 1,553 had syncope and 1,470 had seizure (60.3% vs. 44.2% female, 19.9% vs. 29.0% non-white). After adjusting for age, sex, mode of arrival and insurance, patients with syncope were more likely to receive an electrocardiogram compared to patients with seizure (odds ratio, 10.86; 95% confidence interval [CI], 8.52 to 13.84). This was true across all age groups (0 to 18 years, 56% vs. 7.5%; 18 to 44 years, 60% vs. 27%; 45 to 64 years, 82% vs. 41%; ≥65 years, 85% vs. 68%; P<0.01 for all). Car- diac biomarkers were also obtained more frequently in adult patients with syncope patients (18 to 44 years, 17.5% vs. 10.5%; 45 to 64 years, 33.8% vs. 21.4%; ≥65 years, 47.1% vs. 32.3%; P<0.01 for all).
CONCLUSION: Patients evaluated in the emergency department for syncope received an electrocar- diogram and cardiac biomarkers more frequently than those that had seizure.
Recommended Citation
White, Jennifer L.; Hollander, Judd E.; Pines, Jesse M.; Mullins, Peter M.; and Chang, Anna Marie, "Electrocardiogram and cardiac testing among patients in the emergency department with seizure versus syncope." (2019). Department of Emergency Medicine Faculty Papers. Paper 91.
https://jdc.jefferson.edu/emfp/91
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
PubMed ID
31261481
Language
English
Comments
This article has been peer reviewed. It is the author’s final published version in Clinical and Experimental Emergency Medicine, Volume 6, Issue 2, June 2019, Pages 106-112.
The published version is available at https://doi.org/10.15441/ceem.18.003. Copyright © White et al.